Set a Reminder for the Biggest Space Events of the Year With Just a Click

Things may not go the way you plan in 2018. Maybe you won’t get that promotion, or stick to your New Year’s resolutions but the universe will keep ticking away like a finely tuned clock. Things have already kicked off with “biggest full moon of 2018” appearing yesterday, on 1st January, and many other huge events are on the way. Thankfully, there’s an easy solution to keep track of it all.

The New York Times has collected some of the most important events coming up in 2018 and all you have to do is click here to add them all to your Google calendar or here if you’re using a mobile device.

As we mentioned, January 1st ushered in the first supermoon of 2018. If you missed out on seeing that big full moon fill the skies last night, you’ll get another chance on January 31st, with the added bonus total lunar eclipse — if you happen to be in the right part of the world. According to NASA, the totality of the eclipse will be viewable from western North America across the Pacific Ocean to Eastern Asia.

Other big skywatching events this year include several meteor showers, the first of which will be the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower on January 3rd. For me, meteor showers are one of the things that make this calendar so useful. I can see a supermoon pretty well from my home, but the bright lights of NYC tend to require a trip outside the city that I never plan for in advance.

There also many manmade events coming up like the looming deadline for Google’s Lunar X prize on March 31st. Numerous teams are competing to demonstrate their ability to send the first privately funded lunar spacecraft to the moon and win a $20 million grand prize. Google was previously hoping that the contestants would be able to actually land on the moon by the deadline, but it has subsequently changed the requirements to make things a little easier. Space mission deadlines are like video game release dates, they’re just guideposts that could be changed at any time.

Make sure to set your calendar, and get a good start for the year in space. Before signing up, you can read about all of the events at the New York Times. [New York Times]